March is Fraud Awareness Month

richmond.rcmp.ca

2023-03-15 09:49 PDT

March is fraud awareness month. Fraud. It can affect anyone at anytime. Make no mistake, criminals are not your friends. Your identity cards and documents are extremely valuable to them. Collectively, this includes your banking information, driver license, birth certificate, social insurance number (SIN), debit card number, credit card number, vehicle registration documents, and passwords to your email and other accounts.

Over the course of the last year, we have seen 172 cases whereby credit cards and bank accounts were opened without the owner’s knowledge and subsequently used without their permission. To open such accounts, gathering information about someone’s identity is crucial.

Richmond RCMP would like the community to keep their identities as safe as possible. Prevention is certainly the best possible situation.

• Do not click on any unknown links from messenger apps, social media apps, or emails.
• Do not provide any personnel or financial information over the telephone. Generally, any authentic organization will not solicit you do make any payment or penalty using any of the following payment methods: bitcoin, gift cards, western union, cash.
• Monitor your credit card and bank activity diligently for suspicious activity
• Recognize weak passwords or utilizing the same password across various platforms.
• If you have been a victim or mail theft, please report it to your local police.

For further fraud tips and latest fraud news, please consider visiting the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at: https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
 

Released by

Cpl. Dennis Hwang

Email: richmond_media@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

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